If human rights abuses are going on right now, I sympathize. But the situation is quite different now, and the hatred is more home-grown rather than foreign-influenced. It’s obviously based on ethno-superioity ideology and the children are taught that way…sounds close enough to make me beware.

I dunno about that Bender.Koreans certainly have mixed feeling for both.But I wouldn’t state anti Americanism in Korea as in the same level of anti-Japanism.It is sometimes childish,but definitly not in the level of Nazi hatred.Anyway the cherry blossom in Jinhae seems pretty impressive.

That’s some nice photos you have there,Hoju Saram.I too went to Joint Security Area in 2001,but that was from the South.We saw some caucasians in the other side and wondered what nationality they could be.
My wife is a Mongolian and I’ve seen pictures of Ulaanbaatar in the 80’s.It certainly looked like Pyongyang only slightly that Pyongyang is bigger and has more gigantic buildings.Although there were no famine in Mongolia both then and now.

So what’s with this Hitchens brothers position in English speaking world?Sorta “radical chic kinda dudes?
There is only one translation in Japanese I know about Christopher Hitchens’ work and that is “The trial for Henry Kissinger”.Not exactly a good book,I thought.

If anyone’s interested in seeing some photos, feel free to visit my gallery here:

http://www.ghosttreemedia.com/?page_id=24

Korean nationalism is perverted. And the pathetic aspect is that they blame Japan and America for it. Kind of reminds me how Hitler blamed Jews, Poles, and Czechs and so forth for abuse to the German race while it seemed obvious that the abuser were the Nazis.

Jinhae is a naval base town back in the days of Japanese days.Many cherry blossoms were planted during Japanese days and after the liberation,the base had turned into Korean naval base and naval academy.
http://www.amazon.co.jp/%E3%81%82%E3%82%8B%E6%97%A5%E9%9F%93%E6%AD%B4%E5%8F%B2%E3%81%AE%E6%97%85%E2%80%95%E9%8E%AE%E6%B5%B7%E3%81%AE%E6%A1%9C-%E6%9C%9D%E6%97%A5%E9%81%B8%E6%9B%B8-%E7%AB%B9%E5%9B%BD-%E5%8F%8B%E5%BA%B7/dp/4022597224
1945年の敗戦(解放)後、朝鮮における桜事情は一変し、日本を象徴する桜は各地で伐採されることになる。鎮海もその例外ではなかったが、鎮海では桜が復権する。鎮海市のパンフレットによると「1976年4月、鎮海を世界第一の桜花都市として育てようという大統領令を契機に、民・官・軍の一体となった桜の植樹運動が展開された」というが、著者の調査によると1960年代から在日韓国人や鎮海女子高等学校の同窓会の日本人らが鎮海市らの要請をうけて苗木を送っていたという。

Part of the reason of protecting cherry blossoms was Park Chung Hee was heavily influenced by Japanese military academy education.
It was during his regime that spread the thesis of Somei Yoshino is originated from Jeju island(denied by the DNA research conducted later)and encouraged planting cherry blossoms.There are 340000 trees planted in Jinhae.(Yoshinoyama of Nara has 50000).

Good point!

BTW, I read somewhere that there’s no cherry trees in N Korea because the regime cut them all down as symbol of eliminating their former colonial master. I also heard somewhere that people were also “cleansed” to erase Japanese influences.

Now the same wave of cleansing seems to be going on in S Korea…I always see newspaper articles, etc. coming from S Korea dicussing about eradicating Japanese words, looking for colonial-era buildings (so it can be destroyed, I guess) compiling lists of “pro-Japaense” Koreans (I wonder what they’re going to do with the list?- start a Korean version of the Cultural Revolution?), confisating assets from the heirs of “pro-Japanese” (I guess in Korea, people get punished because of the things their ancestors did- and I don’t feel quite comfortable with branding people as “traitors”), and the such. Maybe the penninsula is becoming “Norked”?